The present disclosure relates to a printer that prints on label paper, and to a control method of the printer.
Printers that print on label paper having peelable labels affixed at a regular interval to a continuous web typically have a printhead, a conveyance unit for conveying the label paper through a conveyance path passing the printing position of the printhead and a cutter mechanism for cutting the label paper. The conveyance unit has a nip mechanism such as a pair of conveyance rollers that grip and convey the label paper on the upstream side of the printing position in the conveyance direction. The printer controls driving the conveyance unit and printhead to print labels as they pass the printing position. The cutter mechanism cuts the label paper on the conveyance path at a position downstream in the conveyance direction from the printing position.
When the trailing end of the label paper passes the nip position of the nip mechanism in such a printer, stably conveying the label paper by the conveyance unit is no longer possible. More specifically, once the trailing end of the label paper leaves the nip mechanism, the label paper may rise away from the conveyance path, causing the distance between the printhead and label to change. If the distance between the printhead and label inconsistent, images printed on the labels may become corrupted.
JP-A-H7-172009 describes technology that makes the printed image unusable when the printed image is corrupted in a printer that prints to a continuous recording medium. The printer described in JP-A-H7-172009 has a scanner and then a cutter mechanism disposed in sequence on the downstream side of the printhead in the conveyance direction. When a symbol such as a barcode is included in the print image, the printed image is read by the scanner and decoded, and corruption of the print image is determined based on the decoded information. If the printer determines the image is corrupted, the printer makes a cut in the printed paper.